During the apartheid era, Schabir Shaik was known as the banker
for the ANC.

As an Umkhonto weSizwe operative, Shaik used to smuggle millions
into the country to fund the armed struggle.

His job was to get international funds flowing secretly to his
brother Mo’s covert spy unit which reported to Deputy President Jacob Zuma,
the head of the ANC’s intelligence unit at the time.

Schabir Shaik and his family set up numerous front companies to
move money around unnoticed by the security police.

One of the main front companies was at the Cawood Centre in
Durban where Shaik had an office.

Shaik claimed in an interview last September that he used to
smuggle more than R100-million a year.

Ten years into democracy, he still handles vast sums of money
but this time he is known as the banker for Zuma. He is making millions of rands
through multiple subsidiaries of his company, Nkobi Holdings, which he founded
out of a coffee shop in 1995.

It is his success in landing lucrative government deals ­
particularly the arms deal ­ that seems to have got him into trouble with the
Scorpions.

Shaik’s close relationship with top politicians, especially
Zuma, will come under the spotlight during his trial in the Durban High Court
next week.

When he goes to court on October 11, Shaik will have to explain
why he paid Zuma more than R1-million through his companies, and he will have to
convince the judge that the payments were not bribes.

It was during the struggle years that Shaik, who often flew to
London to meet ANC leaders and to undergo military training, met and befriended
Zuma.

During the struggle, Zuma “appointed” Shaik, who once
lectured on engineering, to move ANC funds from Europe and Canada into South
Africa.

Following the unbanning of the ANC, Shaik, who is now 47, moved
to its head offices in Johannesburg and worked with Thomas Nkobi, the ANC’s
treasurer-general at the time.